Bittersweet
by chanelsatin
Summary: Not so hot at summaries so read if you really want to know more.
1. Chapter 1

...There it was. One look at the house and I knew I was headed straight to hell. Now I wasn't always the type to think so negatively, but I had a good reason. Hi, my name is Mariah. I'm sixteen years old and practically almost a woman...I think. Well that's what my mom keeps telling me, and after being told a billion times, you start to believe these things. Anyways we just moved to California and I know what you're thinking, California is definitely the place to be because what's there to hate in such an exciting place? Well they made it look so much more exciting on T.V., I swear T.V. lies to people all the time.

"Mariah honey, don't think too hard, you'll hurt yourself. Plus its already hot, wouldn't want you getting one of those random headaches you're always complaining about." Wow. Thanks mom. The only reason we moved was because of her job. I hate how we move constantly, but she said we're staying in Cali for a long time...Hopefully?

I grabbed my bags and headed to my room, we came months earlier to look at the place so I was already familiar with it. I set my stuff down and headed down the stairs...Actually took me awhile because I was trying to savor the moment. "Mariah sweetie" there she goes using that sweet tone on me. "Yes mother dearest" I replied with the same tone she gave me.

"Don't mock me dear"

"Wasn't trying to Mother." A smirked appeared on my face.

"Anyways, I don't have time for your childish games. I have to go to the office, but I want you to get familiar with the neighborhood. Maybe you should go for a walk while I'm gone."

Is she serious? I swear sometimes my mother doesn't care about me. What if someone steals me?...But I'll do this just for her. Curse my mommy loving ways. "Okay, sure. But if I die, you know why."

"Sweetie don't say things like that. It's not healthy."

The neighborhood wasn't that bad. To be honest it looked like one of those rich neighborhoods you see on T.V all the time. I hate places like this; I bet the kids are all stuck up and snotty. Whatever. Only 6 more months until I go back to my old neighborhood to see my friends again. I guess you could say that I was somewhat antisocial...I could make friends if I chose to, but I was never up for it. But I'm very open-minded about a lot of things...err scratch that, not that many things.

As I continued my journey to, God knows where, I spotted some girls sitting outside on their deck. One was wearing a floral dress with her hair down in curls and the other one was wearing a black dress, her hair was black with curls, and black gladiators. Damn, who died? I thought to myself. It wasn't until they looked my way that I realized how long I've been staring at them. I looked up at the sky and then back at the ground to look like I was lost, but to be honest, I wasn't. I looked to my right and realized I was back where I started. So I live across from them? Nice.

The girl who was wearing the floral dress headed towards her car. Wow, a Porsche? They really are rich here. When the girl in the floral dress left, I decided to head inside...wouldn't want her other friend thinking that I was creeping on her in any way.

"Sweetie, is that you?" My mom was home already? Whoa, that was fast.

"Yeah mom, it's me." I walked upstairs to her room to find her unpacking some boxes.

"Hey dear, how was your walk?" She asked while almost dropping her fancy China.

"It was okay. Not really much to see around here"

"I know darling. But you'll make some friends and then you'll start to see some good things."

What a positive mom. You could always count on her for being sunshine mother of the year. My mom was one of those happy moms...you could get her to laugh at anything. It gets annoying at times, but you get used to it. For me, the whole peppy thing hasn't really sunk in yet.

"Oh by the way dear, we're having guests over for dinner tonight"

"What?! Who? I mean you barely know anyone here"

"Oh it's my workmate Sandra and her daughter"

Another girl? Maybe she's my age. "Um mom, how old is her daughter?"

My mom stopped in her tracks and thought for a minute. " I believe she's the same age as you, but enough about that. Go get ready because we're going out to eat."

"Okay." And with that I left her room. This dinner should be interesting. I'm used to just me and my mom at the dinner table, but I guess sharing wouldn't hurt.

I must say, the restaurant was quite fancy. I felt a little under dressed though...tell me what teenage girl goes to dinner dressed like she's heading out to a Paramore concert? Well apparently, that's me at the moment. And I still couldn't find anything on the menu that I liked, everything was in French. The only word I knew was Menu, and that's only because it was on the front.

"Tell me again why we're eating at a place where I can barely read the menu?" I asked my mom as she looked up with a confused look on her face.

"Because Sandra loves French food...and I thought it'd be nice if we ate differently tonight"

"Yeah mom, that's why they have Texas steak house. I'd rather eat there then here."

"Mariah, please don't start with me now."

"But-"

"Stop."

I guess that shut me up...for like five minutes. I hate this place, it's so quiet and I swear you can hear everybody's heart beat! Why must my mom ruin my life? I would understand if she took something else away from me, but food? That's just wrong.

Since this Sandra lady hasn't shown up, might as well bug my mom into taking me to Texas Steak House. Just as I set my menu down, I saw two people heading our way. I guess that was Sandra and her daughter? My mom looked the same way I was looking and stood up immediately greeting Sandra with a hug.

"Sandra! How are you? Please, sit"

"Thanks Elizabeth."

My mom and Sandra didn't waste no time on ordering their food and chatting about work. This is one of those awkward moments were you don't really know what to say, so you stay quiet until you're spoken to. But I barely touched my food...I was so focused on Sandra's hair. It was very long and I just couldn't help but wonder how she took care of it. She was flawless and that kind of scared me a little. I guess I was a little bit too deep in thought, because I saw some hands waving in front of me.

"Mariah sweetie...are you okay?"

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and focused on dinner. Everyone was looking at me weird. Especially Sandra's daughter. Hmm...Have I seen her somewhere before? I think I have, but i can't remember where..

"Umm...Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all." I wasn't lying. I was tired. I haven't slept for days and I guess sleep decided to hit me now.

"So Sandra, how's the big promotion? Ya liking it?"

"Yes. But I have to do a lot of traveling and I don't want to leave my baby girl alone in the house by herself. I would leave her with the Nanny, but she still needs that mother figure around." Sandra looked over at her daughter, who at the moment looked like she was ready to throw a knife at someone.

"Mom, I can take care of myself. How many times do I have to tell you this?" she got up and headed straight for the restroom. I guess my mom sort of felt bad for Sandra. So she gave me a look that said she knew what to do.

"Um Sandra. Would it be too much if I watched her for you? It would be my pleasure. I'll make sure she gets all her assignments done, brushes her teeth before bed time..." My mom was rambling again. The lady likes to prove her point.

"Wait. You would really do that? Take my daughter in and treat her as if she was your own?" Sandra couldn't believe someone would be THIS generous. From the look on her face, it must've been a first.

"Well of course. I mean you've already done enough for me."

Wait, now that I think about it. I'm gonna have to share a room with this girl I hardly know. I know I'm antisocial and I can be a little on the mean side, but that's only because I've been hurt by so many people.

Sandra's daughter came back from the restroom and right when she sat down, her mother took her hands.

"Sweetie, Miss Gomez offered to take you in while I go on my business trips."

Uh oh...I don't think she liked the idea very much...well that makes two of us.


	2. Chapter 2

When we arrived home, my mom told me to show Sonny her room, which was right across from mine. I knew I've seen her before, she was the girl that was wearing all black when I went for my walk. I began to walk up the stairs, with Sonny following behind me. She had this smell to her…I can't quite explain it, but I sure did like it. The scent must've really got to me because I nearly almost fell backwards. Gosh, why was it taking me such a long time to get to the guest room...Finally we made it. The guest room was huge; my room was half the size of it.

"Umm….this is the guest room. You can make yourself comfortable…if you need anything, just scream my name" I was about to walk out when I heard her ask something. I didn't hear her so I gave her a weird look "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"…it would really help if I knew your name" She was actually smiling while saying that. I couldn't help but smile too, gosh her smile was contagious.

"Sorry, my name is Mariah" she gave me a slight nod. I closed the door behind me after smiling awkwardly at her. This was going to be a long stay…..

I woke up the next morning with the sun beaming through the curtains. Usually this was a sign that I was going to have a good day, but then it all came back to me….I Sonny Monroe was staying with her mom's friend. Crap. Why must my mother do this to me? I can take care of myself….obviously she still thinks I'm five. Whatever. I think I'll stay in bed all day...I slowly began to close my eyes when suddenly my cell phone rang. Who the hell would call me at eleven?! I picked it up and looked at the screen that read "Incoming call from Annabelle" I would regret not picking up this phone call.

"Hello" I said in a raspy tone.

"MORNING MIZZ NEW BOOTY"

Oh goodness, leave it up to Annabelle to wake someone up. I couldn't help but laugh at her statement. Mizz new booty is what she likes to call me.

"Salutations my good friend" I said while trying to contain my laughter.

"Anyways, what are you doing tomorrow? Aubrey wanted to know if you're still going to Bradley's party..."

"Crap! That's tomorrow?! I forgot about that…"

"Well let us know if you're coming or not because Aubrey wants us to get ready at her place"

In case you're wondering, Bradley's my boyfriend. We've been together for a year and a half. I really want to go to Bradley's party, but my mother would NEVER let me go. She has this strong hate against Bradley ever since he-

"Sonny, can you not have sexual thoughts about Bradley while I'm on the phone? You're breathing kind of hard there…"

I couldn't help but laugh at her; little did she know that wasn't the case. "Sorry darling."

There was a long pause.

"….So Annabelle is going to hang up now."

"Alright Annabelle, I'll call you later!"

She laughed and said good-bye.

Annabelle was a really good friend of mine, actually she was my best friend. We met in fourth grade and ever since then, we've been inseparable. She was sort of my other half, I don't know what I would do without her. It's kind of weird because I look up to her, she inspires me to be more than I already am. I want to be like her someday, she's beautiful inside and out. She's really gorgeous! Her looks are indescribable, but if I had to pick her celebrity look-a-like, it would definitely be Megan Fox. It's hard to find good friends in this neighborhood, especially in school, everybody acts like they know the real me….but they don't. And they probably never will. Oh well.

The rest of my morning went by pretty fast. After attempting to fall asleep for an hour, I decided to not waste my day in bed. I got up, took a shower for half an hour and got ready. When I went downstairs I thought it might be a good idea to discover this new place I was going to be staying. No one was home so it seems like the right time to do it.

The house was amazingly gorgeous… I've never felt so warm and homey in my life. The whole house was painted red, not light red but a slightly darker tone. Everything else was black. The curtains were black, the picture frames were black, even the dining room dishes were black. Glad to see they picked my favorite color. I decided to sit down for a while before continuing my "journey" through this house.

When I woke up the first thing I did was check my phone to see if anyone had called me, but then I realized that all my friends don't wake up until 2. Lazy bums. What shall I do today? I don't know anyone, my mom has to work, I have the car, but I'm not really up for going on an adventure. F. My. Freakin'. Life. Well, I guess I'll just have to see where the Lord leads me today.

Staying in this house all day would kill me, and I'm not planning on dying soon. So I took a shower and got ready and headed downstairs. I was planning to go to the nearest mall, but the idea of entering a mall scared the hell out of me. I hate walking, I hate shopping, and I hate people bumping into me. Hmm where did I put my laptop? I walked in the kitchen and suddenly stopped in my tracks. I completely forgot that… uhh…. What's her name again? Something with an S, right? Anyways, she looked so… beautiful. The sun was hitting her at the right angle. She looked like she was in a deep thought… I couldn't help but wonder why someone as pretty as her would have anything to worry about in life. I suddenly realized that I've been staring at her for a bit too long. I swear I have a staring problem!...

After staring at Sonny for what seemed to be an eternity, she finally took in my appearance.

"Hello, Mariah." She said while walking towards me.

Sweet Jesus, her voice was gorgeous. It didn't even sound like she was talking, It's almost as if she was singing…

I cleared my throat before replying back to her. I attempted to say something, but unfortunately, nothing came out. If you knew me enough, you'd know that I'm not the easiest person to get along with. I'd say I'm difficult to the fullest, but I don't open up too easy. Demi however didn't mind, she just gave me a weak smile and picked up a magazine, although she was looking through it, it seemed that her mind was somewhere else.

Why did I come in here again? Oh yeah! My laptop, where the heck is that thing? Suddenly I saw it behind Sonny, I walked past her and started typing away.

I hate looking up places, but if it'll get me out of this house then, I'm up for it. My cellphone started going off and immediately I knew it was my mom.

"Hi mom" I said a little bit too loud in the phone.

"Hey sweetheart, how's your morning?"

F'ing terrible. Can we please move back to our original place? But of course I'd never say that out loud. "Umm… it's okay. Hey mom, do you know the nearest mall around here?" I heard some shuffling in the background and knew she was dealing with some papers.

"Why don't you just ask Sonny? She's been living here for a while, dear"

No. That would mean that I would actually have to talk to her. And right now, I'm just not feeling it. I don't know what it was, but she scared me a little bit. My mouth gets dry whenever I try to say something to her… it's weird.

"Okay, I guess. I have to go, I'll call you later." And with that I hung up, before she could reply.

Sonny was still "reading" the magazine when I looked up. Okay Mariah, just ask her for the nearest mall, it's not like you're asking her to prom. I cleared my throat and finally decided to speak to this girl.

"umm… Sonny, do you know where the nearest mall is?" I said in the quietest voice. Why was I acting like this? She's a girl, I'm a girl, and I'm sure we're the same age. Get it together Mariah.

I guess she heard me, thank God, I didn't want to repeat myself. She put the magazine down and headed towards me.

She thought for a bit while she sucked in her bottom lip, damn, that was sexy.

"I do. It's about 20 minutes away. Should I type it into your GPS?" She asked.

No, why don't you just drive me there. At this rate I don't think I'll be able to drive… I got up, grabbed my phone and looked at the time. "If you don't mind, you can tag along with me…. You know, just in case I get lost."

She looked out the window and then back at me. "Okay. Let's go." She walked past me and grabbed her car keys.

This is going to be a long ride.


End file.
